Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin announced today the signing of defenseman Raphael Diaz to a two-year contract (2012-13 and 2013-14). As per club policy, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Diaz, 26, completed his first season with the Canadiens in the NHL in 2011-12. The 5’11’’, 191 lbs defenseman recorded 16 points (3 goals, 13 assists) in 59 games. He tallied one winning goal, added 61 shots on goal and served 30 penalty minutes, while averaging 18:00 of ice time per game. Diaz blocked 102 shots, ranking third among rookie defensemen in the NHL. He missed the team’s last 16 games of the season due to a season-ending groin injury.

A native of Baar, Switzerland, Diaz was part of the All-Rookie Team at the NHL All-Star Weekend. He first signed with the Canadiens as a free agent on May 13, 2011.

245 Comments

It’s a sad situation when 50% of your Defense is AHL caliber. George’s and Markov are NHL CALIBER but, ARE BASICALLY ONE CHECK AWAY from another knee injury. They have nobody that is big that can move people from in front of the net. It’s Gauthier’s Defense, year two. And OH yes Kaberle he’s been finished for two years. It is simply impossible (with this defense) for the Canadiens to make the playoffs. I am willing to bet on this one.

I wonder if Bergevin will and can make any real changes with what little budget he has left. We may make the first round of the playoffs if we are lucky. But I agree, basically we are short Hal Gill and you saw how the habs were without him. What Bergevin signed so far mainly seems to be for shoring up Scott Gomez. The habs ownership committee wants the habs to suck yet again. What do you expect when they live in Toronto, the Coors group of companies on the Canadian side all live in Toronto and the Coors group owns Geoff Molson.

I was pretty positive that they would get a deal done before the season starts, but now that I see what the league wants, I’m not so sure anymore…

For those who aren’t on twitter:

1- Players share of revenu down to 47% instead of the current 56%.
2- UFA after 10 years, instead of 7.
3- Maximum contract length of 5 years.
4- No more salary arbitration.
5- Entry level contracts upped to 5 years instead of 3.

Arbitration works either way for a player! I say leave it it but a team who walks from an arbitrators decision should also be compensated in a draft choice from the team who signs him once he declares himself a UFA.

Nice non-starter of an initial offer. If the owners have 46% as their cynical opening bid for splitting revenues, it’s an indication of how much they’ll fight to get 50% or under. The players will be in a fight to stay anywhere near 57%. We’ll have our lockout yet, and burn off a year of Scott Gomez’ contract the easy way.

5 year entry-level contracts and no arbitration are another ridiculous opening position. They know that can’t stand, players like Steve Stamkos and Drew Doughty would be underpaid for years in that system. It would probably open them up to legal challenges too. They’ll probably yield on that in a last-minute deal. pretend to give up on something they don’t believe they’ll get anyway. The system works fine now, rookies have to earn their big second contracts and beyond, and owners aren’t on the hook for first-round busts.

10 years to free agency is an honest opening position, in that an 18 year old phenom is a free agent at 28, at the height of his earning powers. Problem is the majority of players or college players who make it at 22 or 23 years old, and would probably never have a shot at free agency. A compromise can be worked out there.

I don’t mind 10 years to UFA. What should change is a balanced contract. Meaning the monetary term of the contract should be split evenly throughout the time of the contract. SO if a player signs a 100 million 10 year contract he gets paid 10 million a year and the cap is 10 million a year. Signing bonuses go against 1st year cap and performance bonuses go against the following year of which they are incurred.

Why is everyone so intend on trading away one of our best defensemen, in PK Subban. What has he done that is so unforgivable that we must banish him from the Habs.

Here lately almost every trade that is proposed starts out with PK going back the other way. What is the problem?
Is it his skin color? Is it his attitude? Is it he is too good of a player we really don’t need that type of player? Is it because Markov may not like PK? What really is the problem?

The problem is we have very few truly trade-able players, beyond 3rd and 4th line grinders. With Price now signed, who else is left to talk about that any other team would actually want?

Also, PK’s camp (I’m not saying him, I’m saying his agent) it is in their interest to create a market in order to maximize the return. It’s just business. PK has the most potential upside of any of our players other than perhaps Alex G, who at this point is a kid. Montreal would be insane to trade him unless the deal were over the moon spectacular.

That said, if Gretzky can be traded, than anyone can be traded. But I wouldn’t lay away at night over it nor do I think it’s anything sinister.

PK would look great in a Bruins uniform. If Montreal is dumb enough to trade him we would love him here in Beantown. On another matter NHL network played game 4 clinching cup game against Flyers from 1976. What impressed me were the interviews of the Habs players after the game. Lets be real clear that group haunted the Bruins however what an impressive group. Bright, poised, reflective and just at the beginning of one impressive run. I really enjoyed seeing it. It kinda of soften the blow a bit to see the human side behind the hated Habs jersey. Just reinforced my impressions from seeing hockey the last 45 years (yeah long time season ticket holder) that was a all time great group. No shame in losing to that group and Bruins did give them all they could handle and Bruins were not in their league . 1979 stung for 33 years till B’s won last year. Glad to see Habs getting better. Nothing like B’s habs rivalry . Cant WAIT TILL THEY DROP THE PUCK,,,,,

How old is Marleau? We don’t need another high cap hit veteran forward. And while I’m sure Vlasic is a solid Dman as many posters here have indicated, he isn’t PK who I think will be more than just reliable and solid.

Im a fan of PK and whatever he does is fine by me. I been here on HIO for a couple of years now, and consensus was for a while that the habs needed players with jam. And we cant say that PK doesnt bring the same attitude in the games, and yes I will say it, some of PK’s ‘victims’ during the practices need to toughen up a little.

[Disclaimer]: I’m a hockey fan. I care about the habs, but probably not as much as you.

Agree with you 100% Cat. Pk gives the Habs excitement and I love his attitude. PK also keeps younger fans interested in the Habs and we need this or we end up losing young fans to the Pens , Capitals and now the Oliers. I’ve been a fan since the very early 1970’s and I find him to be the most exciting Hab since Guy.

**Dave Keon is an all-time Leaf great but he hates them more than I do.

If you had the choice between saying…
‘PK has been involved in 3 minor scrums with teammates over trashtalking and going too hard at practice’ and
‘PK gets into fights every other week and had squared off with every teammate not named Gill’,
in defense of your argument for why PK should be traded, which argument would you choose? The second one gives you a bit more support, right?

Let me get this straight. So Chicago isn’t trading P. Kane despite his outrageous behavior over a nb of years, repeatedly embarrassing the team. The Jets aren’t trading E. Kane. But the Habs should consider trading their second year player, 23, top defenseman only because he may rob some uptight people the wrong way (by being too extroverted, too excited, too confident, too unrestrained).

The world has changed a lot. As in other walks of life, there is room in sports for a wider range of personalities, behaviors, and styles. Young people don’t wait for permission to be anymore. Other sports have embraced personalities, you know.

The post is indeed in support of a fact-based response GrimJim gave to naweed235, who wasn’t quite into evidence. I addressed both GrimJim’s answer and the original post. But away from the thread and with heavy sarcasm, I can understand why it created some confusion.

Should the Habs look into trading one of our Swiss combo, I would think that Diaz might interest Calgary for it was Hartley who highly recommended him to the Habs. Not sure who the Habs would be looking for in return but include a mid-round draft pick and who knows what might be offered in return.

It’s really none of my business, but if you were PK or particularly Diaz, wouldn’t you be a little worried about Meehan representing both of you. I mean basically Bergevin has x number dollars to split between both of them, so they’re both competing for a bigger slice of that pie through the same agent. Every dollar that Diaz got is a dollar that is no longer available for PK.

I know, I’m quibbling, but its mid-July and there’s no hockey to talk about!

Conflicts of interest for an agent are always a danger in principle, and I suspect that’s why some players prefer a smaller agency with a more restricted client list. You wouldn’t be out of line to suspect that your agent might give in on your negotiation to gain something from the GM for his other client. All parties always flatly deny this ever happens, but you can imagine that a player could get suspicious.

I agree, it would be too easy for the agent to work the two players against each other in negotiating. The commission for PK will be much larger than for Diaz. (this comment brought to you by Capt. Obvious)

I was one of the first people on this site to talk up Diaz when he was first signed and I’m glad he is resigned.
On the other hand, think him and Weber are too much the same type and not strong enough physically so would like to see one traded.
I would hope Weber is traded first because right now IMO Diaz is the better.
Who ends up the better player is irrelevant because in 3 years they both are gone.

I am with HabFab, Diaz has a nice skillset, if we didn’t have 3 dmen of his ilk, he would stand out. I prefer Diaz over Weber, St. Denis and Kaberle. Having said that, I suspect Bergevin may be able to deal one or two of them for something.

So how many cups did we win with guys like Big Bird,Butch ,Bluet,Nilan in the line up? “Look to future,but Remember the Past”. Running out of juice on my bb,so over and out. Have a great night and stay safe amigos.Hola!!

I don’t understand why you think that I WANT PK traded? All I said was I won’t be surprised as most here if it were to happen. Like I said I think he is the best player on the ice when he plays and as fans that’s really all we can ask for. I don’t care if he is so loud mouthed that the whole team want’s to pull his thong out as long as they win. I was talking about it as a team perspective and judging by their last place performance winning was not what we got…

His first season was decent considering he played on a last place team on a smaller ice surface over an extended time frame.

Barring any injuries, I can easily see him fighting it out with Weber for the 7th spot. Same size, type of game, and general age. One shoots left while the other fires from the right side. Diaz also is good insurance in case Kaberle leaves or Markov gets hurt again.

Failing all of that, the fact that he is signed for two years at low coin just happens to up his trade value.

Saying he isn’t the large, bruising Dman we need is hardly his fault.

His development path also dove tales with that of all of the young kids reporting to Hamilton. He gets another year or two to show his stuff while players like Beaulieu and Ellis apprentice in Steel City.

No disagreement here Steve, getting a guy like Diaz signed is key. As you say we found him and got him for nothing. He may become a longterm depth dmen, he may become long term 5th/6th dman or he may get traded and get us an asset. All of those options are a bonus given we got him for nothing. But let the haters hate!

I like your optimism. 7 best players. That is a lot of best players to have. Sounds like we will get the cup.

Really though? You think Thrower, Colberg, etc will be considered as part of our best? I can see PK, Price, and maybe Gally (needs to prove to me he isn’t a Daigle first)…. but Thrower?? Isn’t he projected to be a 3rd liner?

Indeed. I was just being a dink. probably because I am the last one at work because I am waiting for my wife (we work for separate companies that are directly beside each other)… i hate carpooling sometimes.

Yeah EO Hab, when asked about the fight much later ,Jr.Butch said that Johnathan was so wirey that he let go of him for a second and got drilled right on the button,breaking it and his eyes filled up and couldn’t see a damn thing. He was also laughing about it and gave kudos to Stan. Jeeze I loved Jr.Butch and what a “stache eh?

To habstrinifan (re. the post on the previous tread):
I said it before and I’ll say it again. I like Subban and think he is the best player on this team right now. But you have to be blind and naive if you chose to ignore every story that surrounded Subban in the last 2 years. I am sure that the majority of those stories were blown up because that’s what the media does but us as fans and logical human beings (if that’s even possible) can deduct our own conclusions based on the limited amount of information that is presented to us. I am not saying Subban is not liked in the locker room because I have inside information or anything. But, when I see him getting into scrums with team mates at practice almost every other week, or when guys like Cammaleri and Gomez say “he has a big mouth” or when Markov doesn’t want to comment on him, or when Jacque Martin goes on Antichambre and say that ” sometimes I am not sure if PK plays for PK or for the team” or … I can go on and on…
Anyways maybe I am misinterpreting a lot of those stuff but then again for some reason or another, all these similar stories seem to have PK involved when there is 24 other players on the team…
What ever it is, it’s a distraction for the team whether you’d like to admit it or not…

Okay, I’ll play…
1) PK has gotten into three scrums with teammates. A google search also points out that Jeff Skinner had a fight with a teammate at practice, as did Chris Neil, Akim Aliu, Steve Downie, Joey Crabb, Carl gunnarson, Keith Primeau, Bob Probert, Brian McGratton, Ray Emery…
2) A google search of various combinations of Cammalleri and PK served up nothing where Cammy called PK “a big mouth”. Please provide a link or cite your source.
3) The same lack of results occurred for a Gomez and PK search. However, there were lots of hits about the infamous “Gomez Snubs PK” incident where Gomez doesn’t celebrate after PK’s overtime goal. Now, given a prior incident and the intense scrutiny in Mtl, you would think Gomez bad mouthing PK would be good for at least one internet hit, right? Or if the comment came before, you would think someone would have brought it up as part of the discussion during “The Snub”
4) The Markov comment and the extrapolation of it. I remember another Markov incident in 2009-2010 when he yelled at Price for not being sombre enough after a loss. A lot of people pointed to that incident as evidence that Price had lost the confidence of his teammates, that he could never recover, that Price disliked being in Mtl and that (1) he would be traded by the team which was the only viable option, clearly (2) Price would never re-sign in the summer of 2010 and would be on the way out as soon as he could. Clearly the same is happening to PK.
5) TV personalities never exaggerate and/or are never wrong in their personal opinions, are they? And Jacques Martin is renowned for his interpersonal skills, right?

“The frustrating part is I wanted to play with P.K., that’s why I signed (last summer) for another year. But Jacques wanted to switch it up.”

“I thought he was awesome, I’d talk to him a lot. In the Buffalo airport, as I was leaving for Detroit after the trade, he called me and talked to me for five minutes. He’s a really good kid. He just needs to play the game. That’s all it is.” – Hal Gill

Your posts have a tinge of anti-Subbanism that seemed to be based on nothing.

In your own words: “I am sure that the majority of those stories were blown up because that’s what the media does but us as fans and logical human beings (if that’s even possible) can deduct our own conclusions based on the limited amount of information that is presented to us.”

Many people jump to conclusions. Based on this quote you, my friend, have taken an Evil Kenevil Grand Canyonesque leap of monumental proportions.

naweed, be prepared for a lot of flak over your opinion, but I understand your points, they are valid and not to be dismissed.

P.K. fell to the second round in the draft because of the concerns regarding his fit in the dressing room, his outspokenness, not due to anything talent-wise. He was seen as a highly-skilled player who takes a lot of chances, the anti-Ryan Murray, so to speak.

I’m optimistic, but I don’t think he’s a guaranteed Norris Trophy winner and Hall of Famer as some posters on here seem to evaluate him as. He still has a lot of work to do, mostly on growing up and learning to play within the team.

If Marc Bergevin traded him and his immense potential for a sure thing right now, I’d understand, but probably think it’s not wise, since the team will come together in a couple years time, hopefully along with P.K.’s development curve.

As far as critiquing P.K., if you stick to behaviours he demonstrates (he hogs the puck too much, and tries to hit a homerun every time at bat, instead of making the safe pass, advancing the runner) rather than character statements (he’s too selfish), you’ll be on safe ground, but again, be ready for a spirited backlash.

Last season, I would thus critique P.K. in my game recaps, with specific examples of his repetitive blunders, and no one said a peep. When I threw up my arms in surrender, and floated the idea of packaging him and Andrei Kostitsyn to discuss a trade with Nashville for Shea Weber, ooh boy, it’s like I’d peed on the Canadiens logo at centre ice. I was running the kid out of town, not trying to maximize his value and offer the kid a fresh start.

So be warned, but I do enjoy a measured countervailing opinion, as opposed to one in lockstep with most everyone (“Diaz is too small, get rid of him!”) or one that is extreme (“Shane Doan at $7M for four years? Great!)

I appreciate the fact that you actually understand what I am trying to say as opposed to automatically criticize the post as soon as you see the words “PK” and “trade” in the same paragraph like most here. And I agree with everything you said there

Subban fell into the second round because he was absolutely wild in the defensive zone. You had to see him to believe him…the other team could rotate their player right up to center ice and Subban would follow him all the way out.

Even as a 19 year old, he was an adventure in his own end but could get away with it because of his All-World speed.

Every scouting report I saw of him said that he was an outstanding talent with a great personality and wonderful enthusiasm, but his positioning was VERY raw.

Good Point Chris I can see Subban & Bergevin the practical joker hitting it off but also keeping PK in check at times. I still wouldnt mind seeing that #1 draft pick from Edmonton come here to play along with our #3

Cal, you don’t just give up on a player like Raphaël Diaz. You qualify him and sign him, then deal him if you don’t have any use for him. An asset, despite his being undersized and not tough, that we didn’t squander, good job.

…I see TSN’s Team 990 is being morphed into TSN’s French-language station end of year
…that’s too bad, because Mitch Melnick’s spot was something I occasionally would tune to on My TSN app …conveniently accessible on My Ipod Touch
…but, while living in Montreal I was a CJAD Guy
…the only thing I would really miss on the Team is Hab/Expo/Als-centric Mitch Melnick and his gang …I absolutely have no use for the other crap filler from ESPN, the NBA etc.
…if CJAD would find airtime for Melnick’s format over 2 to 3 hours, I will live with no Team 990
…since, I live in Vancouver, though, would also be nice and convenient if CJAD had an app I can download

I believe all new android devices have an fm tuner built in, so no need to stream the radio through the web. Mind you, this won’t fix your cjad problem, but will fix your local radio station issues. Why apple never figured this out is another reason I went android.

Oh yeah Ontario has alot of elite ball hockey leagues just checking that out today. You must be pretty good yourself. I’m actully in Massachusetts but have family in Montreal. Wanted to get onto a team for weekend tournament. Thanks anyways. Love your Ryan White picture the guy’s awesome to watch as a player and fighter

I’ve been lucky in that I knew the barebones premise of the show, and knew the acclaim it got, but otherwise went in cold, so that was great. I watched on DVD or online, tried to limit to one episode a day max, but it was hard to not start a second episode right away some nights, same as with “Dexter” or “The Shield”.

Generally I stay away from previews and reviews, they tend to spoil the plot too much. This really paid off when I saw “Terminator 2″, I didn’t know Arnold was the good guy, I really enjoyed the plot twist that way. In the previews, they gave it away, so all the suspense in the first part of the movie during the chase is for naught.

I also tried to keep it down to 1 show a night, but there where lots of times when the ‘addiction’ (I guess there’s a little Jesse in me!) would win out and I would end watching 3 or 4 shows up till 2 am.

Edit:re-T2
That must have been pretty cool watching T2 like that. You probably didn’t know Arnold was the good guy untill that awesome scene in the mall when Arnold hauled out a shotgun from the box of roses.

__________________________________________________________________ “Never give up control. Live life on your own terms. Every life comes with a death sentence.”

…You are correct Ben, there IS too much parody in the NHL …but I suspect You really mean ‘parity’ ?
…and My sympathy to all the ‘bugs’ to be hitting Your web-site, because You seem like a very value-added contributor here, and Your site must be quite the place to go

They can possibly hit a peak and win a Stanley Cup or two, but won’t be able to amass the kind of talent on that team before the salary cap gets in the way and they have to sell off pieces before they walk in free agency. They could never attain that level of dominance (best goalie in the league, best defenceman, three of the top five or six defencemen in the league, best player in the league, a sixty-goal sniper accessory, and toughness throughout the lineup), and never ever sustain it that long. Too many teams, too much competition for talent, and a salary cap make that impossible.

…non of that is ‘impossible’ with an above average GM and Management
…smart, forward seeing management can stay one step in front of the competition
…the sad fact is that it was Our Management that has let Us down during this walk in the desert

… yeah, sooo true Normand
…Eller, cost-wise = best bargain on the Team
…and for 2 seasons ! …his current agent must have been preoccupied with other clients to undercut Larry like that
_________________________________________________________
Habitant means PASSIONATE HOCKEYhttp://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=423049

Mike Boone, silencing the critics with their “It’s Friday so he’s gone fishing” cracks! Readying the glow sticks for a Friday night rave is more likely, but still, there’s always time for a quick HIO update and new thread to sate the beast.

EDIT: Of course, a new thread while the old one was at a mere 720 comments isn’t going to help out Little Jimmy any…

…don’t know if mentioned on the previous thread or not, as I am enjoying My summer too much to drop-in more than occasionally …but overheard on Mitch Melnick’s TSN Team 990 show is that Shane Doan offered $ 30 million over 4 years by an Eastern division team
…no word if that offer made by Our Habs, but unlikely We would commit +$ 7 million/season to a Shane Doan
…would love Him on Our Team, but not at that price
…so, who ??? …Da Weeds ???

…for the foreseeable future I will be annoyingly and shamelessly crusading for Our Montreal Canadiens to retire Toe Blake’s number 6 …and add His banner in the rafters next to Our other former Greats
…now some of You may believe Toe was only a Great Coach, and as a Player, did not quite rate such an honor …and/or do not want yet another low-number unavailable to contemporary Players
…maybe forgetting Toe Blake won an NHL scoring championship, the Hart Trophy and a Lady Byng, and led Our Habs in scoring in 6 seasons of His Hall Of Fame playing career …He was an essential component with The Rocket and Elmer Lach on the ‘The Punch Line’ which was the most feared scoring line of it’s day
…most remember Toe Blake as the genius Coach of the Montreal Canadiens at the cusp of Our Golden Era …the Golden Era that most of Us were inspired by to follow Our Habs as if it was ‘a religion’ unto It’s own
…Toe Blake’s name is on 11 rings of the Stanley Cup; 8 as Our Coach, 2 as a Player for the Montreal Canadiens and one as a Montreal Maroon
…Toe Blake was the ‘heart and soul’ Whom inspired and ‘showed the way’ to Our great Players of the time, both as a Player and as Our Coach
…His Legacy is greatly taken for granted, I strongly believe, by the fact Toe Blake’s number 6 is not represented yet in the rafters of the Bell Centre
…the totality of Toe Blake’s legacy, as a Player and Our Coach, to the History and exceptional success of the Montreal Canadiens as the most famous brand in the hockey world is way past the overdue stage
…I wish to request all Montreal Canadiens Fans to join with Ian Cobb and I to right a wrong
…I suggested to Ian to theme this year’s Summit on Toe Blake …to incorporate some homage to Toe …maybe even make a request to Hurley’s Tavern to try to replicate the ambiance of the famed former Toe Blake’s Tavern
…I will leave that to Ian, of what is doable in that regard …knowing Ian, He is more than capable
…meanwhile, some clear input must be made by Habs Fans that agree with the objective, to let Their feelings and opinions be known to Geoff Molson and Montreal Canadiens Management
…that means You !!! Boys and Girls
…if this is something You would like to make right as I and Ian do, I provide the following mail contacts to send Your requests to ‘Retire Number 6 !!!’
…if anyOne out there have other suggestions please let Ian and I know …they will be considered and appreciated

The following are the most relevant to send your testomonial to Retire Number 6 !!!:
Geoff Molson: President and Owner (Twitter; @gmolsonchc)
Kevin Gilmore: VP Operations

The thing about Blake Geoffrion is his skating needs a lot of work before he’s a true NHL caliber player. I’m not the best judge of these things, but in some games on the plasma last season he stood out he was so slow, and I usually only notice for guys like Hal Gill and Derek Boogaard. Another consideration is that once he’s played three more NHL games it will make him waiver eligible. So with these things in mind, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was kept in Hamilton all of next season, to work on his skating, his game, get tonnes of minutes in all situations, provide some ‘veteran’ presence for the AHL newbies, and not clog up a roster sport on the Grand Club. 2013-14 would be his chance to make the team.